A post-game quote from Mike Babcock had everybody (OK, the media) buzzing today. If you missed it, the Detroit coach dinged Devin Setoguchi for falling to the ice late in the second period after contact with Red Wing forward Valterri Filppula.

“It’s a penalty, but don’t dive and embellish it,” Babcock said. “You’re from Western Canada, don’t do that crap.”

The Western Canada reference, of course, made the charge more memorable.

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Setoguchi was one of maybe a dozen players who opted out of an optional practice, but he left the training room to hold court in the locker room on the subject. Setoguchi, if you recall, drew both penalties that gave the Sharks the 5-on-3 advantage that led to the winning goal.

“Anyone who clearly saw the replay, it was a one-handed slap right in the face,” Setoguchi said of the high-sticking penalty on Filpulla. “I actually got hit pretty hard. It’s just a play that happens in a game.”

And that Western Canada insult part of Babcock’s statement?

“Emotions get high in the playoffs,” Setoguchi said. “People say stuff. If you ever watch me throughout the year, I don’t think I’m considered a diver. I just do my part out there and try to help my team out. It’s just one of those things where I think he was a little emotional after the game. We made a 5-on-3 out of it and got the winning goal.”

Did Babcock say anything to him at the time?

“There was a little eye contact,” Setoguchi said. “Like I said, it’s an emotional game. As hockey players we wear out hearts on our sleeves and get fired up more than anybody in any other sport.”

Did he think Babcock was trying to get in the referee’s head for next game?

“Or try to get in my head,” Setoguchi said. “It’s one of those things where it comes down to you try to do anything to get an advantage in a series and it’s such a short period of time. You’ve got seven games to try to win and move on. Whatever was said was said and we’ve got a game to play Sunday.”

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(Hmmm. Guess you could read part of that quote two ways.)

“For myself, I thought it was kind of funny, but anytime there’s a direct comment toward you you look at it,” Setoguchi continued. “I don’t think I was trying to sell the penalty. Anyone who saw the replay can watch it again and it was right in the mouth.”

What happend on the Franzen penalty that saw Setoguchi’s stick cut the Detroit center’s face after their open-ice collision. Setoguchi wasn’t penalized, presumably because the officials thought that Franzen’s tripping infraction set things in motion that led to Franzen being cut.

“That’s another play where I had not control,” Setoguchi said. “I haven’t seen the replay of it, but I was just skating backward and all of a sudden got clipped. I was trying to protect myself from falling backward on my head or on my shoulder.

“I was opening up to the puck and either we caught legs and I was heading back fast. It was just kind of a reaction thing,” he continued. “I don’t know if I hit him on the face before or after. I couldn’t tell you.”

Todd McLellan made it clear that he thought his Detroit counterpart was playing psychological games, trying to get a few officiating breaks later in the series.

“I’ve been in that locker room before and I know he’s a very bright and intelligent guy,” he said of Babcock. “He sets himself up for his organization and his team well. They do a really good job of setting up games 2, 3 and 4. And you don’t win Stanley Cups and you don’t win gold medals without having that tack.”

Did McLellan think Babcock’s comment had merit?

The officials who handled Game 1 “have done close to 2,000 games and if they thought there was any embellishment going, either the teal team or the red and white team, I’m sure they would have put a stop to it right off the bat. They have a tough job to do and they don’t want to be shown up at all. I think the 2,000 games speaks for itself.”

****Here’s what McLellan had to say this afternoon on Patrick Marleau’s absence from Game 1:

“Patty quite simply had the flu. And everybody’s going to guess and second guess, say it was this and that. He had a temperature that wasn’t healthy. He was at the rink today. He’s looking a lot better. He’s got some fluids into him, he’s had an IV and we expect him to play on Sunday.”

Marleau had left the rink before media had access to the locker room.

****The Red Wings were scheduled to skate at Sharks Ice this afternoon, but canceled their practice.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

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Enjoid? sorry, it’s too early for a Saturday morninhg. Obviously I meant enjoyed.

SactoShark

Manitoba is considered part of Western Canada.

Detroit Red Wing, Darren Helm is from a town near Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Darren Helm took a diving penalty in Game 7 against the Coyotes.

It seems Babcock should be more concerned with is own Western Canadian boys.

GP

BASS, I enjoi that spelling…

rimes with ‘droid’

and rhyme rimes with crime.

I had a train of thought that woulda been 6 degree sep to the Babcock/Seto crying saga. Just to early in the morning.

GP

sacto,

basically anything west of Quebec and Montreal is considered western canada.

K. Smith

LMAO. I’m Gary Peterson? I’m sure your beloved Pollak can attest I’m not. You kids are funny as hell. Well, whomever Mr. Peterson is, he’s calling out your beloved Mr. Marleau and rightfully so. I guess he didn’t get the memo from the Sharks that you can’t write things like that in the Mercury News during the playoffs. I’m sure that will be last of Mr. Peterson for a while around the Sharks Ice facility.

Spin, spin, keep going. It’s very entertaining.

The Real Teal

Gary Peterson is a long time sports writer back in the days with Bud Geracie (sp) and I think he went from Mercury News to Contra Costa Times if I am not mistaken. I may not have all the facts straight, but he’s been around a while.

TankGirl

I must admit – I’m not reading much of the stuff outside of DP’s WTC posts and the occasional glance at something else. I’m determined to keep my sanity this postseason, and not reading all the opinionated fodder out there helps me do that. 😉

That being said, there’s enough of that opinionated fodder here to keep me interested, and I’ve been enjoying reading the comments. Since I haven’t been able to attend or watch the games as much as I’d like lately, I’m staying rather quiet unless I saw it first hand.

That being said, I did see the last game, and I don’t really care who made who bleed or trip first, and I don’t really care if Babcock is playing mind games and offending people geographically to do it. It was a fun game to watch, and I’m looking forward to each game of the series being as hotly contested and entertaining. And I’m not just saying that because the Sharks won (though that does help considerably).

On a non-hockey note, guppies or pilot fish are good ideas for the non-Shark fan non-troll “visitors”. I’d also suggest submarines as you never really know if it’s an innocent tourist sightseeing thing or opposition research/surveillance. 😉

Just my two cents – maybe I shouldn’t be commenting before caffeine. Anyway…

Enjoy the day everyone! 🙂

GO SHARKS!

simon does not say

simon #29 with the dumbest comment of the day. Babcock has cup title, Olympic gold, and mclellan was nothing but an asst to him and has won nothing as a nhl playoff head coach except to get outcoached by carlyle last April

Snow Shovel

#146 BASS – Some good names coming out! I like Teal Wheel a lot!

JB

#152 – SactoShark – “… It seems Babcock should be more concerned with is own Western Canadian boys.”

At the end of this, I could have sworn I heard the Law & Order doik!doik! 🙂

NickG

Sharks247 – If the guy had two bags of fluids earlier in the day delivered via IV, I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb and saying he wasn’t well enough to play.

K. Smith Spin what? Spin a conspiracy theory? He was on an IV earlier in the day to try and get him to feel good enough to play. He was obviously sicker than they had hoped. It’s hard to spin a conspiracy that isn’t based on facts when facts that contradict the conspiracy are presented.

DumbPuck™

I love that Babcock can critique Seto. Apparently he must have been watching chicks in the Tank crowd when Kris Draper flew into a triple salchow as Dan Boyle skated near him. And, last time I checked, Draper didn’t grow up anywhere near Quebec…

DumbPuck™

I love that Babcock can critique Seto. Apparently he must have been watching chicks in the Tank crowd when Kris Draper flew into a triple salchow as Dan Boyle skated near him. I thought he was Brian Boitano for a second.

And, last time I checked, Draper didn’t grow up anywhere near Quebec…

Scott

Some trolls are very verbose!

Long Time No Cup

So the USA Hockey casebook says that a player who is checked and hits someone with his stick as he is falling to the ice is to be penalized for a high stick because he must have his stick under control. (rule 6.17)

Pretty clear.

But there are two “howevers” to consider: However, Seto was not falling as the result of a legal check– he was, according to the official, falling as the result of a penalized action by an opponent; however, the wounded wing’s head was too low and so Seto’s stick wasn’t really high when it hit him. That circumstance has also been known to mitigate an apparent infraction.

And guess what? The perfectly officiated game has occurred exactly as many times as the perfectly played game.

hockeyrules

i have watched a gazillion game’s over the year’s. my boy play’s pro hockey. yes, i am a detroit fan. but i am a fan of the game more than that. cause i’l sit there and say sometime’s, we got away with that. but how the hell do you get 9 stiches and you go to the box? that’s just brutal reffing. and then the same clown setoguchi. get’s a tap on the shoulder and act’s like a damn fish! i hate diver’s. i don’t care if it’s our guy’s doing it or what. i lost all respect for setoguchi. and from talking to my boy who watched the game. he said, that was a dive. both of the penalty’s. as player’s, they hate that too. they will confront a coward like setoguchi. cause they know those type’s of player’s. in playoff hockey, your looking for any edge. but you don’t disrespect the game or the other team with that garbage. hopefully, setoguchi will be a marked man. old time hockey would take care of player’s like him. but when it come’s to the playoff’s, you have to be careful. cause bettman’s turned it into a girly game with the instigator. but back in the old day’s. setoguchi would be thinking twice about disrespecting the game like that. that’s like a code of honor with player’s. don’t coward the game like he did. and i’d say the same thing if it were a wing doing it. i hate diver’s!!

Martin Brody

All I have to say is GSDI!

icehawkey

hockeyrules. seto got hit in the face. he fell dramatically. like most players would including wings. quit youre bitching.

Sharks Dive Too Much

I’m not a fan of either team, but the refs have totally shown in this series that they are bias. Setoguchi, AKA Greg Louganis Jr., is the worst of all with Nabokov pulling s close 2nd. And Sharks fans don’t try to brag. The Sharks have barely won either game and have had the help of the refs. You’d think with all the help from the refs they would blow the Wings out. LMAO. Wait until games 3 and 4 in Detroit. I see the dives and goonery catching up with the Sharks.

Sharks Dive Too Much

LMAO. Maybe by a breeze, but he wasn’t hit in the face with a stick. Try again. Stop being a troll and learn the game.

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